Reuters  reports that “North Korea said on Monday it has told the United States it will sever the only channel of communication between them, at the United Nations in New York, after Washington blacklisted leader Kim Jong Un last week for human rights abuses.”  

“All matters related to the United States, including the handling of American citizens detained by Pyongyang, will be conducted under its ‘wartime law,’ the North’s official KCNA news agency said.”  

“The move is the latest escalation of tension with the isolated country, which earlier on Monday threatened a ‘physical response’ after the United States and South Korea said they would deploy the THAAD missile defense system in South Korea.”